In electronic resonators based on Si integrated circuits, continued reduction in device dimensions results in resistive loss increase and thus Q value decrease. Hence, Q values of small dimension electronic resonators may be lower than desired for some applications. Such loss mechanisms for Q values are absent, on the other hand, for mechanical resonators such as bulk acoustic wave (BAW) and surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators since size reduction in mechanical devices is more limited. Therefore, higher Q values for both BAW and SAW resonators are possible compared to their electronic counterparts (see reference 1, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety).
Mechanical resonators also tend to have higher radiation tolerance, a factor which can make them suitable for higher radiation applications such as satellite and space applications. However, both BAW and SAW resonators involve low resonant frequencies and are also physically large, which precludes their integration into miniaturized electronic systems.